It has long been known that dolls, here intended to include animated figures generally, can be made of flexible material, in three dimensional form, in a manner to permit repeated distortion and return to the original form. Probably the oldest types are hollow rubber skins of stable molded contour which can be deformed by expelling air through a small opening, and which will return to the original form as the "memory" of the stable contour acts to draw in air through the small opening. As representative of this type of device attention is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,187.
Another approach has been to fashion dolls from a solid molded mass of flexibly resilient material containing a resiliency-retarding ingredient as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,402. This approach permits free axial bending, with slow return to original form, but permits only limited axial stretching of parts.
A more recent approach, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,601,923, is to provide a hollow molded shell or skin of elastically deformable material and fill it, to its original molded size and contour, with a viscous liquid medium which will flox slowly as external forces distort the skin, and as the distorted skin returns to the configuration or "memory" of its originally molded contour. The viscous medium of the above mentioned patent comprises an appropriate aqueous suspension of particles of cornstarch or tapioca starch. The result of such a composite structure is that portions of the assemblage, such as arms and legs of a doll simulating a human figure can be repeatedly bent and stretched, while slowly returning to original configuration as the applied force is released.
As applied to a simulated human figure, FIG. 4 of the above identified patent, the head portion is described as part of the composite structure, i.e., being part of the container or skin and filled with the viscous medium. In similar dolls seen in the marketplace the head has been a separate part fixedly secured to the container or skin. Both of these treatments of the head portion of a stretchable doll have distinct limitations, as neither will permit the user to maintain a change or adjustment in the head orientation. The former, if adjusted, will promptly return to its original configuration, and the latter, fixed head mounting, prevents any adjustment.